There is the effort we, as leaders, observe. There is the effort that we, as leaders, can imagine. Then, there is the actual effort that our team members put in to any initiative being handed down from on high. A “simple” project may have a number of interlinked components that we are unaware of, yet the team member must navigate. Something that might “just” take an hour is actually half a day of effort. Leaders aren’t always cognizant of just how much goes in to any project. Sometimes when we are spitballin’ ideas, our team members are frantically doing the mental calculus trying to make it all work. The lesson? A single sentence from a leader can turn into a week of work or more. Therefore, be ruthlessly selective when accepting and assigning new work. We want to avoid building the overlapping layers of work for our team members too high. High is fine. Too high is not fine.